Sharp freezing mold



July 15, 1941- l R. M'sTQRER A- y2,249,261

SHARP FREEZING MOLD Filed July 5. 193s 1 ff/@HARD M. sro/921;? TOR ATTRNEYS.

-. jarfmeERAucm-f Patllf 1y 1s, 1941 SEARCH R UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE 15 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved freezing mold for mechanicalrefrigerators.

It is an object of the invention to provide novel mechanism forloosening the ice bodies frozen in such a mold.

Another object is to provide means for progressively freeing ice bodiesin a freezing mold to thereby reduce the amount of effort required.

A further object is to provide a grid for an ice tray, having novelmechanism to facilitate its bodily removal from a freezing tray.

Still another object is the provision of a grid of this character havingmechanism adapted to force ice bodies carried therein after its removalfrom the tray, outwardly of the grid to facilitate their removaltherefrom.

Other objects and advantages reside in details of design andconstruction which will Ibe more fully disclosed in the followingdescription and in the drawing wherein like parts have been similarlydesignated and in which:

Figure 1 is a. longitudinal section taken through a typical tray andgrid assembly that is constructed according to a preferred form of thisinvention;

Figure 2 is a similar sectional view showing a step in the operation ofthe mechanism;

Figure 3 is an elevation partly in section of the grid assemb1y ofFigures 1 and 2, after it has been removed from the tray, and with itsoperating mechanism in an advanced position;

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view on line 44, Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a cross section on line 5-5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a sectional view along line 6-6 of Figure 3; and

Figure 'l is a sectional view along line I-l of Figure 2. l

In the instant illustration of an embodiment of this invention referencecharacter I5 denotes a tray adapted to hold liquid for freezing andprovided with upstanding edge portions along its sides and ends as shownat I6. A grid element designated as a whole by reference character I1,is adapted to removably lit into the tray I5 to form a plurality offreezing cells in which the liquid in the tray may be frozen intoseparable ice bodies.

'I'he grid element I1 in the present instance is constructed of acentral longitudinal support I8 on which are mounted grid walls I9positioned transversely thereto. Adjacent the ends of the supportingmember I8 are pivoted lever handles 20 and 2l that are adapted forlimited angular or rotary movement about their pivotal axes as clearlyillustrated in Figure 2. Positioned along a normally vertical side ofthe support I8 is a relatively movable cell-wall 22 having a downwardlyand inwardly inclined surface 23 and on the opposite side of thesupporting member is a similar cell-wall memlber 24 having a similarlyinwardly inclined surface 25. 'Ihe wall members 22 and 24 are held onthe support I8 for limited independent movement relative thereto inplanes parallel and normally vertical.

Each lever handle is provided with a cam on one side thereof, as shownat 26, that is positioned and adapted to act upon the wall member 22 toimpart movement thereto relative to the central support I8, as above setforth. And each lever handle has another cam, as shown at 21, on theother side thereof to engage and move the other wall member 24 that hasthe inclined surface 25, relative to the central support I8, asexplained above. The two cams on each lever are different or arepositioned d ierently so that upon operation of either or both of thelever handles the longitudinal wall members 22 and 24 will be moveddifferentially.

As shown in Figure 4, when the lever handles and 2| are in their normalinactive position, as in Figure 1, the longitudina1 structure membersare in symmetrical position. Upon raising the lever handles to anupright position, the nclined longitudinal wall members are first raisedwith reference to the support I8 and the tray I5 if the grid ispositioned therein, and upon continuation of the rotary or angularmovement of the lever handles to the position shown in Figure 3, thewall members 22 and 24 having the inwardly converging surfaces 23 and 25respectively, are lowered with reference to the support member I8. Itwill, therefore, be seen that each wall member, 22 and 24, is capable ofmoving in two directions, which normally is up and down, with referenceto the grid construction and, further, that their movements aredifferential with reference to each other Ibecause of the differentialfunctions of the cams on each lever. It will be understood that therespective cams comprising each pair may be identical in shape butpositioned differentially on the levers, or the cams may be of differentperimetrical contour.

The differential positions of the longitudinal wall members 22 and 24are clearly illustrated in Figures 5 and 7. A slot, as indicated at 28,is provided at each end portion of each longitudina1 wall 22 and 24 toprovide for the relative movements, above set forth, of the longitudina1walls with reference to the central support I8, the pivots 28 and 30passing therethrough to provide fulcrnms or pivotal axes for the leverhandles 2li and 2|.

Operation In use, the grid assembly I1 is placed in the tray I which isfilled with liquid, usually water, to be frozen into ice bodies in thewell known manner. When it is desired to remove the ice bodies from thetray, the lever handles 20 and 2| are rotated about their respectiveaxes in opposite directions, as shown in Figure 2, which movement rstdifferentially raises the two longitudinal wall members 22 and 24 withreference to the central support I8 and the tray I5, which will relieveoutward pressure of the frozen bodies against the upstanding tray sidesthat cooperate with the grid members to form the freezing cells. Thismovement also breaks the bond between the ice bodies and the inclinedsurfaces of the wall members.

Upon continuation of the rotary or angular movement of the lever handles20 and 2|, they will bear upon the upstanding ends of the tray, as shownin Figure 2, to exert leverage thereagainst and thereby facilitate thebodily raising of the grid las a Whole with reference to the tray.Normally, the ice bodies will cling to the grid and be removed from thetray Ithereby. Small apertures 3| may be provided through the lowerportion of the central support I8 at the end cells to facilitate theremoval of the ice bodies in these cells, with the grid.

After the grid assembly with the ice bodies has been removed from thetray, continued rotary movement of the lever handles will differentiallylower the inclined central w-all surfaces so that the ice bodies will beforced outwardly tow-ard the open ends of the respective cells tofacilitate their nal and selective removal from the grid. The downwardmovement of the inclined surfaces 23 and 25 will exert an outwardcomponent of force or cam-like action against the ice blocks, but theice will not necessarily be completely ejected from the grid but ratherit will continue to lightly adhere to the transverse wall members of thegrid merely by friction, surface tension and atmospheric pressure. Fromthis final position the ice bodies easily may be selectively removed,and any not removed for use may be readily replaced in the tray with thegrid.

The two-directional or up and down movements of the longitudinal wallmembers 22 and 24 obviously could be simultaneous and the same, but bythe provision of the differential cams to impart differential movementto the inclined wall surfaces, less physical effort is required toaccomplish the objective set forth since the work done is spread outover `a slightly longer time period by such `differential movement.Furthermore, the yall members having inclined surfaces could function torelease the ice bodies by downward mc rement only, and the initialupward movement could be dispensed with.

Therefore, by operating the respective levers 20 vand 2| differentially,the opposite ends of the respective longitudinal members 22 and 24 arecaused to move differentially, while the cams acting on the oppositeends of each of such members 22 and 24 may be differentially positionedas well in the manner previously explained.

. The disclosed illustration of an embodiment of the present inventionclearly shows that itis well adapted to accomplish the objectives setforth,

and while this specification discloses preferred means for reducing thepresent invention to practice and a preferred embodiment of theinvention, changes may occur to those skilled in the art and may be madewithin the scope of the appended claims, without departing from thespirit of the invention. I

What I claim and desire to Patent is:

l. A grid for an ice tray, comprising a longitudinal support, transversewall members thereon, a longitudinal wall member held adjacent one sideof the support for limited movement relative thereto, anotherlongitudinal wall member movably held at the opposite side of thesupport, the two longitudinal wall members having converging surfaces, alever pivoted on the support, a pair of cams on the lever to be rotatedby angular movement thereof and 'acting on the said 1ongltudinal wallmembers to move them independently with reference to each other.

2. A grid for an ice tray, comprising a longitudinal support, transversewall members thereon, -a longitudinal wall member held adjacent one sideof the support for limited movement relative thereto, anotherlongitudinal wall member movably held at the opposite side of thesupport, Athe two longitudinal wall members having converging surfaces,a lever pivoted on the support, a pair of cams on the lever to berotated by angular movement thereof and acting on the said longitudinalwall members. k3. In a device of the character described a pluality ofvertically disposed members cooperatively assembled to define a freezingcell, with one of said members mounted for movement rela.- tive toanother cell-defining member, the iceengaging surface of the movablemember being disposed angularly to the vertical plane of the othercell-defining members, and mechanism acting on the movable member toimpart vertical movement thereto independently of and relative to frozenmatter in the cell in a bond breaking action.

4. In a device of the character described a plurality of memberscooperatively assembled to define a freezing cell, with one of saidmembers of wedge-shaped contour and mounted for movement relative toanother cell-defining member, and mechanism for moving the wedge-shapedmember vertically independently of and relative to frozen matter in thecell in a bond breaking action.

5. In a device of the character described a plurality of memberscooperatively assembled to define a freezing cell, with one of saidmembers of wedge-shaped contour and mounted for movement relative toanother cell-denlng member, and mechanism acting on the movable memberto impart a downward movement thereto to break the bond between frozenmatter and the cell.

6. In a device of the character described, a movable end-wall and aplurality of side-walls defining a freezing cell, the end wall having awedge-shaped ice-engaging surface, and mechanism acting on the end-wallmember to cause its movement downwardly through the cell in a wedgingaction against matter frozen therein.

7. In a. device of the character described, a plurality of memberscooperatively assembled to define an open-ended freezing cell, themember opposite said open end having its ice-engaging surface taperingtoward the bottom of the cell, and mechanism acting on the taperedsurface to secure by Letters cause its movement downwardly through thecell against matter frozen therein.

8. A 4device of the character described, comprisingza tray and aremovable grid element in the tray defining a plurality of freezingcells and comprising a partition extending lengthwise of said element, aplurality of transverse members mounted thereon, with the ice-engagingsurfaces of said partition disposed in angular relation to theassociated transverse members and mounted for movement relative thereto,and mechanism acting to move said surfaces and impart thereto a wedgingaction against matter frozen in the cells.

9. A device of the character described, comprising a tray and aremovable grid element in the tray defining a plurality of freezingcells and comprising a partition extending lengthwise of said element, aplurality of transverse members mounted thereon, with the ice-engagingsurfaces of said partition disposed in angular relation to theassociated transverse members and mounted for movement relative thereto,and mechanism acting to move said surfaces and impart thereto a wedgingaction against matter frozen in the t cells.

10. A device of the character described, comtramand a removable gridelement' in comprising a partition extending lengthwise of the elementhaving wedge-shaped ice-engaging surfaces mounted for movement in thetray, a plurality of transverse members, and mechanism acting at theopposite ends of said partition differentially to move such endsindependently and thereby cause a wedging action between the surfacesand the frozen matter in the cells.

11. A device of the character described, comprising a tray and aremovable grid element in the tray defining a plurality of freezingcells and comprising a partition extending lengthwise of the element andincluding wedge elements having surfaces movable vertically withreference to other parts of the grid, and mechanism acting SEARCH Roo atthe opposite ends of said partition differentially to move such endsindependently and thereby cause a wedging action between the surfacesand the frozen matter in the cells.

12. A device of the character described, comprising a tray and aremovable grid element in the tray defining a plurality of freezingcells inclusive of a partition extending lengthwise of the element andproviding a surface inclined relative to the tray and mounted on thegrid element for vertical movement relative thereto, and mechanisminclusive of a cam acting at the opposite ends of said partitiondifferentially to move such ends independently and thereby cause awedging action between the surfaces and the frozen matter in the cells.

13. A device of the character described, comprising a tray and aremovable grid element in the tray dening a plurality of freezing cellsand comprising cross wall members and a lengthwise member having opposedsurfaces inclined relative to the tray and movably mounted on the grid,and mechanism inclusive of cams acting on the inclined surfaces forindependently imparting movement thereto in a wedgingaction againstmatter frozen in the cells.

14. An ice tray comprising a longitudinal wall member and transversewall members defining a plurality of freezing cells, the longitudinalmember having converging ice-engaging surfaces mounted for limitedvertical movement relative to the grid, and mechanism on the grid actingon said converging surfaces independently.

15. In a, grid of the character described a plurality of cell-formingwalls, a member extending along the cells having an inclined g surfaceand mounted for movement in the cells, and two independently actuatedlevers associated with opposite ends of the movable member for movingthe same independently throughout the cells of the series in a wedgingaction against matter frozen therein.

RICHARD M. STORER.

